This Won't Hurt I Swear

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

The smile on Akeem's face promised nothing good. There was definitely this arrogance he always had in it, especially when he pulled out a good one. And today, he pulled out a really good one.

Normally, Akeem would have been the last person who’d want to give some of his blood. It was his blood after all. He was not what you'd call generous and fully assumed it. However, when he saw the sign, it made him stop. At first glance, it was a regular sign. One stating there was a blood bank settled here for a few days and encouraging people to come and give some of their blood. Nothing wrong with that. Until you read at the bottom of it the three last words. No mutant allowed. That made him tilt. First, how did they expect to know who was mutant? Did they have a list? He doubted if someone read the question ‘are you a mutant?’ on the little document they made you fill they’d mark yes knowing they would be turned down. And what was wrong with his mutant blood anyway? It was not like they’d turn mutant too. People got way too crazy over this lately, all thanks to that stupid association. Either way, this little note at the bottom of the sign sounded like a challenge to Akeem. One he accepted.

It was not hard to get in there, give an ID and fill the form. No question about mutation. It was not like they could really ask which school you went to. Asking if you made a trip, had a sickness or a vaccination recently made sense, you school, not so much. If that was not enough, Akeem was ready to use his oh-so-terrible power. But he didn’t need it. He sat on a chair and let a machine suck his blood out of him. A nice little bag of AB+ for them.

It was why he looked so proud of himself when he left. Any mutant would if they, like him, gave the AMA a nice middle finger in their face. “I wonder how they’ll like my blood. Almost makes me wish they’d tell who used it so I can send them a nice little card.” He could still do it to the AMA. That would be hilarious.

[Rebekka Knight]

It was a rare occurrence when Rebekka got to spend any time with her siblings. it was also an odd one. She was protective, yes. Supportive too, considering she had to basically support them and her grandmother. She wanted them to have a better childhood than she'd had. Which could be fairly easy considering Rebekka never felt like she'd had one. Maybe that's why she felt so messed up. And why she was determined for her little siblings not to turn out the same way. No way in hell was she letting that happen willingly.

So she'd come with them to the library. Grandma came along to. It was nice having them all together. Even Rebekka found herself smiling. But eventually the stillness had gotten to her. It wasn't horrible. Yet she could feel herself getting restless. Stir-crazy from sitting in one place for far too long that wasn't her own home. So she'd gone on a walk. The twins had Nana, so they'd be fine. Meanwhile she wandered around in relatively the same place. Eventually she stumbled on the blood drive. And the guy who'd stepped out looking way too pleased with himself. Rebekka smirked. "I've never seen someone look so smug and pleased coming out of a damn blood drive. You win a bet or something?"